Welcome to Dinovember

A month-long imagination invasion.

Every year, my wife and I devote the month of November to convincing our children that, while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life.

It began modestly enough. The kids woke up to discover that the dinosaurs had gotten into a box of cereal and made a mess on the kitchen table.

“Can we still have that cereal for breakfast, Daddy?”

The next morning, the dinos had climbed onto the kitchen counter to raid the fruit bowl.

The morning after that, they had managed to breach the refrigerator and help themselves to a carton of eggs. “Uh-oh,” we heard our girls whisper. “Mom and Dad are not going to like this.”

Things quickly escalated from there. More often than not, the dinos’ antics were less than tidy. They are dinosaurs, after all.

“Don’t let Mom and Dad see this—the dinos drew on the wall!”

“Mom’s favorite vase!”

“Mom and Dad, you should really lock the kitchen.”

To be fair, they did clean up after themselves from time to time.

Usually, though, the dinosaurs are just like anybody else—looking to have a good time.

“They made him look like Barney.”

“The dinos are really good at tin-foil, Daddy.”

No toy is safe.

Why do we do this? Because in the age of iPads and Netflix, we don’t want our kids to lose their sense of wonder and imagination. In a time when the answers to all the world’s questions are a web-search away, we want our kids to experience a little mystery. All it takes is some time and energy, creativity, and a few plastic dinosaurs.

Childhood is fleeting, so let’s make sure it’s fun while it lasts.

If you’d like to follow along with Dinovember, join our Facebook page. If you join in with your own family, post your pics on Twitter or Facebook (set to ‘public’ so we can see them!) using the hashtag #dinovember.

UPDATE 10/28/14: Welcome to Dinovember has been adapted into a full-length book! Featuring the full story of Dinovember plus 80 new photos, What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night is available now.